Shelter incorporating a plurality of adjustable adjacent roofing elements

ABSTRACT

A shelter of the type constituted by at least one polygonal roofing element held in position by one end of a substantially horizontal arm, of which the other end is held by a vertical pole. This shelter is characterized in that the arm is connected to the pole by connection elements adapted to allow the arm to be adjusted both in the vertical and in the horizontal direction.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a shelter of the type constituted in particular by a plurality of adjacent roofing elements which are held by an eccentric horizontal arm connected to a vertical holding pole.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Different designs of shelters of this type are known, which comprise from one to four roofing elements, depending on the applications which it is desired to make thereof. A certain number of problems are encountered when making shelters of this type, both at the level of manufacture and at implementation, as a result, on the one hand, of the difficulty of ensuring, simply and efficiently, an adjustment of the roofing elements in position with respect to one another and, on the other hand, of the difficulty raised by the evacuation of run-off water, in particular both at the level of the join between the roofing elements and the overall evacuation of such water.

The present invention thus has for its object to propose a shelter, particularly with multiple roofing elements, which makes it possible to ensure simply, easily, efficiently and inexpensively, a strict positioning of each roofing element so as, on the one hand, to render the aesthetic appearance of the shelter satisfactory and, on the other hand, to ensure an efficient evacuation of the run-off water.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention thus relates to a shelter of the type constituted by at least one polygonal roofing element held in position by one end of a substantially horizontal arm, of which the other end is held by a vertical pole, characterized in that the arm is connected to the pole by connection means adapted to allow the arm to be adjusted both in the vertical and in the horizontal direction.

In order to ensure an efficient evacuation of rain-water, the base of the roofing element may be provided with a peripheral gutter and the vertical pole will be traversed by a pipe which opens in its upper part on a collector element and which is connected by its base to means for evacuating the rain-water. Similarly, the roofing element will be disposed so that two of its adjacent sides converge towards the centre of the pole and this point of convergence will be located at a level slightly lower than that of the rest of the roofing element and will thus constitute a “bottom point” located above the collector means. This bottom point will comprise an evacuation orifice located plumb with the collector element.

Furthermore, the inner end of the arm will be provided with a vertical plate adapted to be fixed on the pole by means of bolts which traverse it, the inclination of this plate, and therefore of the arm, in the vertical plane and in the horizontal plane with respect to the pole, being a function of the value by which this plate is driven on the bolts.

According to the invention, the outer end of the arm will ensure vertical hold of a post which itself will ensure hold of triangulate elements constituted by three elements forming a right-angled triangle, namely a vertical element parallel and substantially of the same length as the post, a horizontal element which forms a diagonal of the roofing element and an element connecting the upper part of the post to the end of the horizontal element, said end constituting a point of anchorage of a corner of the roofing element.

These triangulate elements will preferably be provided with adjustment means adapted to allow a positioning of the points of anchorage in the vertical direction and in the horizontal direction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A form of embodiment of the present invention will be described hereinafter by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective and in partial section of a first form of embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view in perspective from underneath of the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a partial view in perspective of an example of mounting an arm on the support pole.

FIG. 4 is a view on a larger scale of details of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a view in perspective of a detail of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 6 is a side view on a larger scale of a form of embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a view in perspective of a form of embodiment of the invention comprising a structure intended to support four roofing elements before these latter are positioned on the structure.

FIG. 8 is a view in perspective of a detail of the means for supporting the roofing element.

FIG. 9 is a plane view from above showing the detail of the means for holding the arms on the support pole.

FIG. 10 is a detailed view in perspective showing the mode of fixing the support structure of the roofing element on the arms.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings, the Figures show a shelter according to the invention which is composed of two roofing elements of which the base is in the form of a square.

This shelter is thus constituted by a vertical support pole 1, from the upper part of which extend two horizontal holding arms 3. Each of the arms 3 supports a vertical post 5 on which are fixed three triangulate elements 35, the ends of these triangulate elements constituting anchorage points for the lower corners of a roofing element 9 and comprise to that end elements 6 for fixation.

The pole 1 is constituted by a tubular element which is connected by its base to an anchorage block 10 provided in the ground.

According to the invention and as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the horizontal arm 3 is connected to the support pole 1 by means for adjusting it in position, namely in the vertical plane (arrow V) and in the horizontal plane (arrow H). To that end, the upper part of the pole 1 is provided with two horizontal plates 16, 18 which are fixed on the latter by any means, and particularly, for example, by welding means, and, as for the end part of the arm 3, it is provided with a vertical plate 19 which is rigidified on the arm 3 by means of two gusset plates 21. The plates 16 and 18 are pierced with horizontal threaded holes in which bolts 23 which traverse the vertical plate 19 are positioned, the latter vertical plate being held on each bolt by two nuts 22. It will thus be understood that, as a function of the position of these nuts 22 on the bolts 23, it is possible to incline more or less the axis uu′ of the arm 3 by an angle α with respect to the transverse axis xx′ of the plates 16 and 18, as shown in FIG. 9. The positioning of these nuts 23 also makes it possible to incline the plate 20 by a more or less large angle β with respect to the vertical axis zz′ of the pole 1.

It will thus be understood that, thanks to this device which is particularly simple to implement, the user has the possibility of adjusting the arm 3 in a certain angular amplitude both vertically and horizontally, with respect to a reference position.

Such a form of embodiment is particularly advantageous in the case of the device being constituted by a plurality of roofing elements 9, for example two roofing elements as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, or four roofing elements as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The possible relative positionings of the roofing elements with respect to their reference position are shown in broken lines in FIG. 6.

The roofing elements 9 may be constituted by a light frame, for example a tubular frame 13 covered with a stretched canvas 14, or, on the contrary, be constituted by a rigid cover made of a moulded plastics material.

According to the invention, the periphery of the roofing elements is provided with a gutter 25 which is intended to collect the run-off water and conduct it towards an evacuation. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the vertical pole 1 is traversed by a tube 30 terminating in its upper part by a collector 32 in the form of a funnel which is fitted inside the support pole 1 and which is intended to collect the run-off water and conduct it through said pole via a pipe 33 towards recovery conduits connected to drains for evacuating rainwater.

The adjusting device according to the present invention is particularly advantageous in such an application, as it makes it possible to adjust the inclination of the roofing elements precisely, so as to cause two adjacent gutters 25 of each roofing element 9 to converge towards the collector 32, so as to conduct the rain water in a bottom part of the gutter 25 pierced with an outlet orifice 36 located plumb with the collector 32.

According to the invention, the roofing elements 9 are held at each of their corners. Such hold is ensured by means of a post 5 which is fixed to the free end of the arm 3, this post ensuring hold of three triangulate elements 35 presenting the form of a right-angled triangle, namely a short side 35 a which extends vertically and parallel to the post 5, another side 35 b which extends horizontally, and a third side 35 c constituting the hypotenuse of this right-angled triangle. These triangulate elements 35 are distributed along the diagonals of the roofing element 9 and comprise at their three ends the fixation elements 6 ensuring hold of the base of three of the four corners of the roofing elements 9. As for the fourth corner, it is fixed on a fixation element 6′ which is disposed on the arm 3.

According to the invention, each of the free ends of the triangulate element 35 provided with the fixation means 6 is adapted to move both in a horizontal plane and likewise in a vertical plane. To that end, the post 5 which is preferably in the form of a cylinder of square cross-section, is provided at its upper part and at its lower part with two plates 38, 39. The upper plate 38 receiving the upper part of the triangulate element 35 and the lower part thereof (FIG. 10) is adjustable in distance with respect to the post 5 so that this triangulate element can make a pivoting movement about its upper fixation on the plate 38, and this by adjusting the distance e separating the base of the side 35 a from the post 5. To that end, the side 35 a is traversed by a threaded rod 40 of which one end is provided with a piece 42 at 90° which comes into abutment on the angle 5′ of the post 5, two nuts 44 ensuring the adjustment of the distance e and, once the latter is effected, the fixation.

The different adjustment means with which the elements for holding the roofing elements are provided, allow a positioning thereof which is both rapid and practical, and ensure a strict adjustment of the gutters collecting the rain water in order to conduct it to the centre of the pole 1 from which it is then evacuated towards means for collecting rainwater. However, any other adjustment means may, of course, be employed. 

1. Shelter, of the type constituted by at least one polygonal roofing element held in position by one end of a substantially horizontal arm, of which the other end is held by a vertical pole, wherein the arm is connected to the pole by connection means adapted to allow the arm to be adjusted both in the vertical and in the horizontal direction.
 2. The shelter of claim 1, wherein the base of the roofing element is provided with a peripheral gutter.
 3. The shelter of claim 1, wherein the vertical post is traversed by a tube which opens out in its upper part on a collector element and which is connected by its base to means for evacuating rain water.
 4. The shelter of claim 1, wherein the roofing element is disposed so that two of its adjacent sides converge towards the centre of the pole.
 5. The shelter of claim 4, wherein the point of convergence of the two adjacent sides of the roofing element lies at a level slightly lower than that of the rest of the roofing element and thus constitutes a “bottom point” located above the collector means.
 6. The shelter of claim 5, wherein the bottom point comprises an evacuation orifice located plumb with the collector element.
 7. The shelter according to claim 1, wherein the inner end of the arm is provided with a vertical plate adapted to be fixed on the pole by means of bolts which traverse it, the inclination of this plate, and therefore of the arm, in the vertical plane and in the horizontal plane, being a function of the value by which this plate is driven on the bolts.
 8. The shelter of claim 1, wherein the outer end of the arm ensures vertical hold of a post which itself ensures hold of triangulate elements constituted by three elements forming a right-angled triangle, namely a vertical element parallel and substantially of the same length as the post, a horizontal element which forms a diagonal of the roofing element and an element connecting the upper part of the post to the end of the horizontal element, said end constituting a point of anchorage of a corner of the roofing element.
 9. The shelter of claim 8, wherein the triangulate elements are provided with adjustment means adapted to allow a positioning of the points of anchorage in the vertical direction and in the horizontal direction.
 10. The shelter of claim 2, wherein the vertical post is traversed by a tube which opens out in its upper part on a collector element and which is connected by its base to means for evacuating rain water.
 11. The shelter of claim 2, wherein the roofing element is disposed so that two of its adjacent sides converge towards the centre of the pole. 